article · Environmental Science and Pollution Research
This research evaluates the bioconcentration of mercury in wild Suillus luteus mushrooms gathered across Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe. Using cold-vapour atomic absorption spectroscopy, the study found mercury levels ranging from 0.13 to 0.33 milligrams per kilogram dry matter in caps, and 0.038 to 0.095 milligrams per kilogram dry matter in stems. Mushroom caps systematically retained higher mercury levels than stems, with cap-to-stem ratios spanning from 1.8 to 5.3. Mercury concentrations in the underlying soil were generally low and remained beneath normal Earth crust levels. Suillus luteus exhibited a moderate capacity to bioaccumulate mercury, displaying bioconcentration factors between 3.6 and 42. The findings indicate that consuming up to 300 grams of fresh mushrooms per week from background European areas will not breach the provisional tolerable weekly intake for mercury.
Wild edible mushrooms can accumulate toxic heavy metals from their environment, posing dietary safety concerns. By quantifying mercury distribution and bioconcentration factors in Suillus luteus across three European regions, this work helps food safety authorities and foragers understand safe consumption limits, confirming that moderate intake from unpolluted background environments remains safe for human health.
This early-stage safety assessment offers reference data for food safety bodies, commercial wild mushroom processors, and culinary distributors. The findings can be used by food quality assurance programmes to inform safety guidelines and intake advisories for commercially sold foraged mushrooms, though the abstract itself outlines no direct commercial product or technology pathway.
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Presented in this paper is result of the study of the bioconcentration potential of mercury (Hg) by Suillus luteus mushroom collected from regions within Central, Eastern, and Northern regions of Europe. As determined by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy, the Hg content varied from 0.13 ± 0.05 to 0.33 ± 0.13 mg kg(-1) dry matter for caps and from 0.038 ± 0.014 to 0.095 ± 0.038 mg kg(-1) dry matter in stems. The Hg content of the soil substratum (0-10 cm layer) underneath the fruiting bodies showed generally low Hg concentrations that varied widely ranging from 0.0030 to 0.15 mg kg(-1) dry matter with mean values varying from 0.0078 ± 0.0035 to 0.053 ± 0.025 mg kg(-1) dry matter, which is below typical content in the Earth crust. The caps were observed to be on the richer in Hg than the stems at ratio between 1.8 ± 0.4 and 5.3 ± 2.6. The S. luteus mushroom showed moderate ability to accumulate Hg with bioconcentration factor (BCF) values ranging from 3.6 ± 1.3 to 42 ± 18. The consumption of fresh S. luteus mushroom in quantities up to 300 g week(-1) (assuming no Hg ingestion from other foods) from background areas in the Central, Eastern, and Northern part of Europe will not result in the intake of Hg exceeds the provisional weekly tolerance limit (PTWI) of 0.004 mg kg(-1) body mass.
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DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-5513-4
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